Was it a Full Moon?!

I started this blog primarily because I was, and still am frustrated with nuisance dogs. As I was outside this weekend, I was uspet to hear many dogs in the neighborhood that were barking non-stop. The only saving grace was most the dogs were far enough from our house, that when my wife and I went inside it wasn't so bothersome. But it made me think. Are other neighbors annoyed? Are they reporting these dogs? Are they doing anything? But I actually stumbled on something that made me realize, I must not be the only one. I always keep track of the visits to the blog, even though I haven't had any comments, I am getting traffic. Normally I have 10-15 unique visitors. That means people are searching for solutions to nuisance dogs. I sure don't have the end all solution, but I'm hoping to help people come up with some. This weekend I noticed a spike in searches for "silencing dogs" or nuisance dogs. Surprisingly this coincided with an increase in dog barking in my neighborhood. Coincidence or not, it made me realize people are suffering from peoples inability to take care of their novelty pets. I love dogs and animals just as much as the next, but if a person isn't able to keep their dog quiet, they shouldn't be allowed to have one.

If you are on the fence about reporting a nuisance dog to Animal Control or the appropriate authorities, I urge you to follow thru and report. It is important to report incidences of nuisance dogs to animal control. Part of their responsibilty is to educate people of properly handling a dog. That also includes educating pet owners of the real reason a dog barks.

Coming soon, I will start posting the contact information of your local Animal Control. If you know your local Animal control contact information, please let me know. I would like to compile a complete list of Animal Controls across the US and the proper procedures for reporting.

Letter to Animal Control for assistance:

My heart rate is up again, it's 9:30 pm, and my wife is trying to get baby down. Unfortunately, our neighbors dog is wide awake and left with no answer to it's plead for attention. We have already submitted our formal letter of complaint to Animal Services, but since it has only been a week, we're not sure if they have taken any formal action. I'm kind of upset...it is very frustrating. So to see if Animal Services can assist me in any way, here is my email/letter to them pleading for some help:


Hello Animal Services,

My wife and I recently filed our formal complaint with regards to address: Anywhere USA. We documented 3 months of activity. We continue to document. Is there any other steps we should follow moving forward. The yard is not very "tidy" either and for such a large dog, there really is no activity for it in there backyard. It is very frustrating especially in the evening. We have made it a point to leave our house most days after work, so not to be bothered. My wife and I are very upset that we live in such a great neighborhood yet we are not able to completely enjoy our own home.

Thank you for past assistance with regards to my original inquiry last year. The dog at the address you originally assisted with has not been a problem since. We grately appreciate the efforts of the Animal Services for that event.

Thank you again for any help you can be.

Frustrated Homeowner

I have received my Dog Silencer Pro back repaired. But I have not put it back up since we contacted Animal Services. I am waiting a week before putting it back up to see if Animal Services is able to remedy the problem. 

I plead to people, please own dogs responsibly. They are a huge responsibility and should not be taken in just because they are cute. They require much attention and care. And are full of energy that needs to be utilized. If not you end up with a dog with no way of expressing itself healthily, aside from damaging property or barking instantly 

Nuisance dog stays consistent

As a neighbor your only desire is to have other neighbors that share your same wants for the neighborhood. Pride in ownership can help a neighborhood increase in value, and it would only seem like a shared responsibility of a neighborhood to value their own property enough as an example to other neighbors that they want the same. For the most part, I am happy with my neighbors, I love waiving to them and walking out on an afternoon to have small talk with my neighbors about our lawns and how beautiful the day turned out.

But all it takes is one neighbor to ruin a neighborhood. I started this blog primarily because of my neighbors barking dog. The dog is a bonnified nuisance, and we have the documentation to prove it. My wife and I have logged as many times as we are home for times that the neighbors dog has been barking non-stop, or for durations. Sometimes for over an hour with only brief pauses. We can look over into our neighbors yard and see that the dog is begging to go in. Their sliding glass door is covered in dog prints from the Lab trying to get anyones attention. The poor dog aimlessly paces with no one giving the dog any attention. I'm not even sure if the dog gets properly walked.

For the most part, my wife and I had a great afternoon after I came home from work. I love to see my family, and when my wife is happy, I'm happy. But about 845pm tonight the neighbors dog started barking. While I type, the dog is still barking every minute to 5 minutes.

Our log of the nuisance barking is from beginning of May to mid August. We are without our Dog Silencer Pro. Our replacement has shipped, and we are hoping to get it any day now. Even if the device doesn't work, we like to know that something is "yelling" back at the dog. We have made up to 3 calls to animal control and myself 2 emails. These are informal complaints, but they do tell us that they send someone out whenever a complaint is made, formal or informal. They also remind us the proper channels to filing a complaint, which we have been putting off for a very long time, in hopes that the dog would either stop, the owners would come to their senses, or the dog leaves (the owner advised me the dog is there only temporarily....hasn't been so temporary though). I love my wife very much, and It PAINS me to see her so upset. I'm just as upset, but I try to hide my emotions to try and calm my wife down. Even though inside I just want to yell at the dog to just "Shut Up!!!". We have a 17 month old, and with the dog barking tonight we had a difficult time getting him to go to sleep.

So back to Animal Control. We have finally decided to submit the proper paperwork to Animal Control for our formal complaint. Though we struggled with the decision to formally complain, we felt for our own sanity, it was the only legal option. My wife and I are curious of what will actually happen. The owners back yard is a wreck. It is filled with abandoned "things" and some of the trash is spilling under the fence into our yard. I hope that Animal Control sees that this is no place for a LARGE Golden Lab to be living. There is no room for the dog to run, only plenty of stuff in its way.

I hope for a amicable solution, where the owner realizes that the dog has caused a problem. If their yard is addressed also, that would just be a bonus.

Anyone reading this know, you are not alone if you are dealing with a problem neighbor and nuisance dog or noise. Of course you probably already know that from googling all the horror stories. What I hope to accomplish one day, is make it easier and more effective to report and handle nuisance dogs. Some people should not legally be aloud to have a dog. They are a big responsibility, and to often than not, most people do not have the time or energy to put into keeping or raising a dog.

Letting a dog bark with no attention is cruelity to an animal!

My wife has broken down in tears twice this week over the sound of our neighbors nuisance dog. As a husband, I can't bear to see my wife our son hurt. Yet I feel helpless in dealing with the problem. I have been trying out a couple "Dog Silencing Products" have called Animal Control, and before trying any of the previous, I even talked to my neighbor about the problem (which is not easy). The first attempt at curbing or stopping the dog abuse, by talking to the neighbor didn't really accomplish anything. Animal control had been effective in the past with a different dog, but this time, we haven't seen relief. Lastly, we had tried the "dog silencing products", but I still have to tweak a few things on how I'm placing the devices before I can truly say they don't work.

The next step of course is to file a formal complaint with Animal Services. To this point I have only resorted to calls to Animal Services. But after 3 months of documenting barking times, it's about time I submit the appropriate paperwork.

It is truly upsetting, to not be able to enjoy your own home. I found an article that really speaks my feelings and concerns. The reality is, nuisance dogs are the result of owners being abusive by not taking proper care of their animals. This link is a great article that does a great job explaining the cruelty that owners of nuisance dogs are truly putting on the dog and other people:

http://www.democraticwings.com/democraticwings/archives/civil_liberties/3085.php

The more of us that band together to fight for our rights to a peaceful neighborhood, the more likely we can help people that are facing these problems....that could include yourself one day.

It just never ends with this dog!

Currently we are without any "Dog Silencing" products. If they work or not is still up for debate. But knowing that we had a device in our backyard fighting back against our nuisance neighbors dog, was somewhat comforting. But for now, we returned the product we got from Petsmart, and are waiting for our repaired or replaced product from Good Life, the makers of Dog Silencer Pro. We mailed out our Dog Silencer Pro on Monday, and we are eager to have it back and operational. This time when I re-install it in my yard I plan on positioninig it higher, and more directed towards the dog. Also, I plan on building a bird house for it to truly protect it from the elements. The plastic "weather proof cover" is a joke. When you put it on, it also muffles the sound that the product produces. I think without the cheap plastic bag they give you, the device can reach it's full potential.

Note on my return/replacement, Good Life makes you pay for all shipping costs.

Finally someone got back to me!

Well I would like to say, once I finally got someone over at Good Life (the maker of the Dog Silencer Pro) the person was very friendly and helpful. The rep has sent me the return label via email. Now we'll see how fast it take for them to return new item to me.

Still waiting for Dog Silencer Pro to come thru with their Warranty!

I'm big on customer service. With over 15 years of customer service background, I have high expectations when I have a shopping experience. And with so many competitors out there vying for our money, it only makes sense that companies try to maintain a high level of customer service. So here I am, still waiting for a response from the company Good Life (the company that sells the Dog Silencer Pro) to respond to my request for a replacement or repair of my product. A simple response would make me happy right now, even if they told me it would take a little while to receive my repaired product, I might be okay with that. But no response makes me question their ability to honor any guarantee they offer. I have only tried contacting them via there contact page so far. I'm not able to make many calls during the day at work, so I try to do most my work in the evening or late at night. So for a web based company to respond to my simple request via email seems reasonable.

Let's hope they respond to my request this time. I see on there site that you can call 24/7...I think I might try that, because being out over $100 for something I just bought is really getting on me.....here goes, I'll let you know how it goes.............

........Just got off the phone with a rep with Good Life. After 3 calls and 2 disconnects, I finally got a rep on the line. The after hour service is only for ordering, and is a contracted company separate from the Good Life. They primarily handle taking orders over the phone. When I finally did get someone on the line he was courteous and friendly. He advised me he would forward my request to the company, and they should recieve a response around 6 am. So to this point, the tally is as follows: 2 contacts via their website, 2 calls disconnected, 1 call completed, 1 rep forwarding my request to be addressed in the morning. Of course this isn't a lot of work on my part, just a minor inconvenience. But it doesn't bode well to me on the company.

My complete and final review will come after I've had all my experiences with the Good Life resolved. I still pray that everyone can enjoy a quiet neighborhood where you can relax from the stresses of our lives.

Dog Silencer Pro, on 1 year warranty...

First things first. Our Dog Silencer Pro has been inoperative now for over 3 weeks. I have been busy, and finally sent in a request to the company for a replacement. I am well outside of the 30 day guarantee. I wish I would have tested their 30 day guarantee, but I thought I would like to keep the product for times if the dog acts up. Thankfully, can't really say thanks to the Dog Silencer Pro for sure,but the dogs barking has been curbed. As for the dogs less barking, this happened well after the product stopped working. As for the inoperative device I have now, I am still waiting a response from the company. The website says they will replace or repair product within one year. I sent the request Sunday night. They say to wait 1-2 business days. It's 10:31 pm Tuesday, and I'm pretty sure that makes it the end of the business day....still no response. I'll wait until tomorrow to see if they finally respond.

One reason I wish I had just returned the product, is in the time we haven't had the Dog Silencer Pro, my wife decided she needed something to curb the dog one day (my wife is a stay at home mom, and hears most of the barking when everyone is gone, and dogs are left out all day). So she went to Pet Smart and bought another dog silencing device. I'll post later on that one, don't have the specifications in front of me. I already like the design much more, even with the shorter range. It's built like a bird house, and because of that, is less susceptible to the rain damage. The Dog Silencer Pro only came with a cheap plastic cover they call a rain cover. From what I can see, it just does a good job of muffling the sound, and traps moisture so it stays trapped inside the plastic. In the time the cheaper model has been up, we've noticed the dog barks, but with less frequency. Of course during the day I'm only going by my wife's reports, but judging by her mood, it seems less.

So to conclude my rambling, I'm not so thrilled by a couple of things with the Dog Silencer Pro. If they get back to me and follow thru with honouring their warranty, I might be a little less peeved. But for now my $100 plus has merely been for a failed experiment in dog silencing devices.